Our Plus One

So I can’t even go through the extended version of how this kid made his entrance into the world, as it’s like having war flashbacks, hah. The good thing, however, was when it (finally) ended and they threw this particularly sweet creature onto my chest (yes, literally threw!) I was able to entirely block it out, because that boy is the best thing in the whole world.

I won’t go on and on, but in short? He’s a week old tomorrow, and has spent much of his first days being as sweet as can be, sleeping and eating like a champ, and is easily the number one favourite of his two totally gushy parents.

So there! Best Christmas gift evah.

The Induction

So tomorrow is the induction day. I have nothing of interest to share here, but that we have determined a few things for certain.

1. Even if you start having daily contractions at less than 37 weeks, you can still require an induction five weeks later.
2. No amount of red raspberry leaf tea, evening primrose oil, S&S procedures, walking, yoga ball bouncing, or anything in between can force out a kid who simply likes things as they are.
3. If this kid doesn’t begin an exit of his own volition in the next twelve-ish hours (which I’m pretty confident that he won’t), I’m destined for Motherboy conferences in jaunty sailor suits with our very own answer to Buster Bluth in the future.

Here’s to meeting this kid before the weekend is through!

Holidazed

Okay, so yesterday I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas in an attempt to force this kid out. (Kids like Christmas, right?) And then I decided to put up the tree.

My love of Christmas knows no bounds. I go truly bananas when it comes to holiday season fun – I frigging love it. The lights, the glowiness, the happiness, the music, the baking… there is no down side, I tell you! In any case, I decorated said tree tonight and am totally loving it!

Somebody else loves it too. (Darby is clearly managing sleigh operations this year – she’s worked really hard and I’m pretty sure beat out that ridiculous drunk Blitzen for the gig.)

Eeee!

A Tale of One Old Hallway

So I know hallways seem like small reno jobs, but this one was a huge amount of work, thus leaves me filled with (labour-inducing?) giddiness. To date, we’ve finished the glorious bathroom and the master bedroom, and the kid room is 80% finished… meaning the second floor of our house was nearly done. That crafty husband of mine still has to add trim to this hallway, but by some miracle, it is now basically finished before the arrival of this (admittedly late) kid!

Three shots – hideous when we bought it, totally gutted, then under construction…

And now… basically done! (Shot from the other side of the hall with my cruddy camera instead of his good one like the other shots, but you get the idea.)

That banister alone is a work of art, as far as I’m concerned. I swear, this man I married was a celebrated craftsman in another life. He managed to save the original handrail and shoerail and totally stripped them, did the glorious black and white, had to rebuild and reangle the entire thing to make it structurally solid and so very pretty… I am in love with it! And I have no clue where he learned to do this kind of thing!

He will also be doing the staircase to the third floor – of which I showed you in-progress shots a little while ago, and are now long done! – to have black treads and white risers to match that banister, and we’ll be doing the same again with the stairs you see in that second shot (the ones from the first to second floor) in the new year.

Ah, renovations – how I love thee!

Coffee Talk

So recently, with this kid about to pop (seriously, when will that be?) my mother-in-law has been delivering lots of meals for freezing. Since she’s taken the real-food part of our future newborn-infused lives, I have taken charge of the sweet stuff.

Last week, she included three pints of blueberries with her delivery, thinking that it might inspire something fun! Indeed, it did – my friend Marianne directed me to a favourite recipe of hers and thus my variation on this delicious simple cake was born!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

• 1C white flour
• 1C whole wheat flour
• 1.5C sugar
• 1/2C butter
• 1t baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1C milk
• 1t vanilla
• 2 pints blueberries

Set the oven to 350F and get this party started.

Sift together the flours and sugar, then cut in your room temperature butter with a pastry cutter. Save 3/4C of the mixture in a separate bowl. Add your baking powder, milk, and vanilla to the remaining mixture and then pop in the yolks of your two eggs, saving the whites. (You know, the ability to yolk an egg using only the shell is still one that fills me with delight – my mum used to use a separate tool for this step and I am still thrilled that I don’t need that tool anymore. Ridiculous!)

Whisk your whites ’til they form soft peaks, then fold ‘em directly into the batter, which you can now pour into a greased 9″x13″ pan. Clean your berries and remove both stems and grody ones, sprinkle over the top of the cake, then sprinkle the remaining flour/sugar/butter crumble mix from the first step. Bake for an hour.

This is the first time I’ve ever made a cake in a 9″x13″ pan and had it come out of the pan without sticking anywhere, quelle miracle! That said, flipping it right side up after putting it on the cooling rack was a bit of a challenge, given its size, so I had to cut it in half. In any case, I sure hope this freezes well, because it’s otherwise in danger of being entirely consumed in 24 hours. Deliciousness!